Energy stocks among top S&P decliners

Conoco plans $5 billion asset sale; Cameron on shipbuilding deal

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Energy stocks traded lower on Monday, giving back some of their recent gains as the broader market returned from its Thanksgiving break to worry about Greece’s finances and the U.S. fiscal cliff.

Energy stocks were among the top decliners of the day among S&P 500 companies, after having rallied about 4% in recent sessions.

Shares of ConocoPhillips
COP, -1.77%
turned higher, up 0.2% for the day.

The Houston-based oil bellwether on Monday announced plans to sell its 8.4% interest in the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement, or Kashagan, to India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd. for about $5 billion.

“The sale of this quality asset is an important component of our ongoing strategic asset disposition program,” said Don Wallette, executive vice president of commercial, business development and corporate planning.

ConocoPhillips said it expects a write-down of about $400 million in the fourth quarter from the sale.

The company is in the middle of a reorganization to improve its balance sheet, including planned asset sales around $20 billion in assets. Earlier this year, ConocoPhillips spun off its refinery arm, Phillips 66.

Shares of larger rival Exxon Mobil Corp.
XOM, -0.93%
declined 0.5%. Exxon and Saudi Arabia’s state-controlled oil company Aramco announced a maintenance shutdown at the Yanbu refinery in order to bring a new clean-fuel project online, according to a report on DJ Newswires.

The refinery, operated by Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Co., will close for about 45 days starting March 10, the report said. Yanbu processes about 400,000 barrels a day of Saudi Arabian crude oil, half of which is consumed domestically.

Oil-field services company Cameron International Corp.
US:CAM
shares declined 1.5%. The company announced Monday it received an order from South Korea’s STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. worth $275 million. Cameron will supply the shipbuilder a drilling equipment package for a ultra-deepwater drillship.

“While we are pleased with Cameron’s award, it is still a bit early to get excited, as we have seen others try and compete with [National Oilwell Varco Inc.],” analysts at Raymond James said in a note to clients.

Although National Oilwell Varco
NOV, -1.11%
is likely to maintain its dominant market position on drilling equipment package, the impact of the South Korea’s deal on Cameron’s balance sheet “could be fairly significant,” the analysts added.

Crude-oil futures also traded lower on Monday, with the January contract
CLF3, +0.00%
off 54 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $87.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil drops on Greece jitters.

Meanwhile, the so-called fiscal cliff remained at the center of market worries. U.S. lawmakers returned from their Thanksgiving break to continue to search for ways to reach an agreement to avert more than $600 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending reductions next year.

Greece was also among the concerns dragging stocks lower on Monday, with the euro-zone finance ministers meeting again to release more bailout money to Greece after two failed attempts this month.

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